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Special Item
Some Zombie Escape maps have what people refer as Special Items. Those are mostly divided into three major categories: Special Weapons, Monsters and Powerups. However sometimes some items fall between multiple categories or are something completely different on their own. Also one must notice that there is no general consensus nor official name for the Special Items, so different people may refer to them with different names. They can vary so much from map to map that a global name to refer them all wouldn't be accurate to describe all the different kinds. Example: The Special Items in ze FFVII Mako Reactor are called Materias. All the Special Items are made within the map editor and are designed, made and included in the map by the creator of the map himself if he decides to do so. For this reason the looks, power, functionality, performance, way of using and even how to obtain the Special Items varies from mapper to mapper, and many times even between maps from the same author. Sometimes this can happen even between items that are virtually the same, like from one Flamethrower to another one from another mapper. One may have limited fuel and the other won't; one will only push and briefly ignite the zombies while the other doesn't push but ignites them for a longer time... and you can be certain that both the Flamethrower and the Fire particle won't look the same (unless the second mapper ripped it from the first mapper). They arguably only appear in "new generation" [[zombie escape maps (even if they can be made for any kind of map) and were really uncommon and unheard of not long ago. Here is a list of the things that Special Items usually have in common: *They can't be bought in the same way you buy the normal equipment. Instead they are placed within the map by the map's creator in the places he choses to. *They are usually hidden or (moderatly) difficult to obtain. Most of the time the reason is to prevent newcomers from picking them over more experienced players. *They are usually very big and/or have some kind of display to make it clearly visible so other players can easily recognize someone holding a special item within a big group of players. *They are usually very powerful weapons or crucial to the map's gameplay. *They usually have some kind of limitation on its use to prevent abuse like limited fuel/bullets/charges, only one use, cooldown between uses, etc. Arguably the first special item on a Zombie Escape map were the Ring and Gandalf's Staff on Hanniball's Ze LOTR Mines of Moria. He later added Saruman's Staff; and on his next map Ze LOTR Mount Doom introduced Earendil's Light and The Nazgul (the first Monster for zombies). Always trying to make new things, Hannibal's fourth map, Ze Paranoid, introduced may Special Weapons for humans and even some Special Items and Monsters for Zombies. Paranoid first weapons (Freezer, Flamethrower, Rocket Launcher, Vulcan Minigun) were somehow a revolution and something never seen before, and became a point of reference for mappers that wanted to study how they were made and wanted to copy or make them from scracth for their own maps. Version after version Paranoid introduced more Special Items of all kinds and people started to want to include some special weapons on their own Zombie Escape maps, and Paranoid became a reference, if not for mapping (that map is really weird) at least for the mappers to learn how the complex Special Items were made. Myself I would say it was the Mako Reactor Materias the ones that made the Special Items become main-stream and known to all the community. This map, as Paranoid and the LOTR series, was once made by Hannibal, so we could consider him the creator and introducer of the Special Items (weapons or not) with special effects apart from visuals to the Zombie Escape world. Lately Hannibal started filtering some of his Special Items (most notably the Materias of Mako Reactor) so only the real owner could use it. Since the Special Items are made with the map editor and use things like buttons to get enabled, most weapons (if not properly filtered) can be griefed and abused by other players. This is particulary catastrofic when the item being abused is a key piece to archieve victory on that particular map; or when using at the wrong time could affect negatively the team that is suposed to help. How to pick a Special Item? Most Special Items are bounded to a normal weapon. Those are Knife, Grenades, Pistols or Primary Weapons.In order to pick a Special Item you need to don't have equiped the kind of weapon it is attached to. Since zombies can wear knives, all Special Items parented to other kind of weapon are meant for humans. PISTOLS & PRIMARIES: With Pistols and Primaries is just as easy as droping it (default key G''' while holding the weapon) and picking up the version that contains the Special Item without having to worry when you do so. This kind of weapons can be dropped again and passed (or recovered in case of death) by other players. '''GRENADES: If the Special Item is attached to a Grenade, you must throw (you can't drop) your own grenade (if you have one) BEFORE touching the item. If yo throw the grenade while touching the item you will destroy it as if the grenade you just threw was the one the item is attached to. The weapons that are parented to Grenades are usually weapons meant for humans that don't support being passed to other players because of their Game UI system wich could crash the game or have conflicts if more than one player was able to control it on the same round. KNIVES: The Special Items that are attached to Knives are usually meant for zombies (since is the only weapon they can use), giving them special powers or transforming them into some kind of new monster (like Paranoid's Titan or Minas Tirith's Balrog). There are however some Special Items for humans attached to Knives. The Special Items attached to Knives can't be dropped at all and disappear when the user dies. Since you can't drop your knife, this kind of items are surrounded by a trigger that will strip you from all your weapons (no way around it) so you lose your knife and can pick the one wich the Special Item. For this reason you will lose are your normal weapons as a human and is usually a good idea to drop them before picking the item, so you can recover them afterwards. DIRECTLY TO THE PLAYER: Some very uncommon Special Items will attach directly to the player instead of to a weapon that the player carries and so it only needs the player touching a trigger to get them. Because of some weird interactions with the engine this kind of items will still follow you after diying (on spectator) and even if the owner sees the item facing the right direction, everyone else (on an online game) will see the special item always facing the static direction it was facing when the owner died. (They will see it turning normaly if the owner is still alive). Because of this weird interactions (remaining parented after the player's death) its not often used and when used its meant for being used in spectator, so usually picking the item will kill you afterwards. Examples of this uncommon items would be the Ghost and Lost Smoke that appeared on some versions of Paranoid. FFVII Mako Reactor Mako reactor has a ver special and specific variation of Special Items called Materia. The Materia was part of the magic system used by Square Enix on their original Final Fantasy VII in wich the map is based on. They are generally considered to be the inspirators/pioneers of all current special items/weapons because the success of the map and how they affect the gameplay. All the materias listed here have 55 seconds of cooldown and do 0-1 of damage, with the exception of Ultima wich doesn't recharge and does enough damage to kill 50.000 HP zombies. The Mako Reactor Materias are: Heal Materia: This materia has the ability to heal humans inside it's range (100 HP on the''' Normal Mode', 150 HP on the '''Hard Mode' and 225 HP along with 6 seconds of invulnerability on the Extreme Modes). The healing area has a range which is capable of touching all players together at the reactor core, so you don't have to stand right inside the materia effect to get healed. Ice Materia: This materia creates an area of ice in front of the user that freezes the zombies inside for around 6 seconds on Normal Mode. On Hard Mode the area becomes noticeable longer while the duration is almost the same. On Extreme Modes it becomes a huge area all around the user. As all materias that slow or freeze, the speed given back to the ones affected by it its decided by the mapper; so frozen zombies could get a speed boost (or nerf) after the effects wears of, depending on server settings. Also, knockback still affects frozen zombies even if they can't move: when they are allowed to move again all the knockback that they recived will act at once, usually making them fly backwards. (Notice that ice will un-ignite zombies ignited by Fire Materia) Fire Materia: On Normal Mode this materia creates a brief and small frontal cone of fire that ignites the zombies inside. On Hard Mode it makes a firewall that follows you for 5 seconds with the same effects. On the Extreme Modes the firewall becomes a huge area all around the user and its duration is increased again. (Notice that fire will un-froze zombies frozen by Ice Materia). Wind Materia: On Normal Mode this materia will create a small wind push in front of the user that can slow the zombies, but isn't strong enough to push them back (may be able depending on server settings). On Hard Mode both the push and area are increased, and is very effective to send zombies far away. On''' Extreme Mode''' the area becomes a tornado surrounding the user and even if arguably less powerful than its Hard counterpart, it becomes extremely usefull to remain safe for some seconds while completly surrounded by zombies. Using this materia whilel giving your back to the zombies on Normal and Hard won't have any effect, since the push is only in front of you. Also, using it while being behind of zombies will probably push them into the humans ahead and is considered griefing. Electro Materia: This materia remains the same on all game modes, and instead of becoming more powerful gains an aditional charge, having 2 on Hard and 3 on Extreme Modes. It creates an area in the ground that hurts (only for 1 damage) the zombies inside. The idea is not to help you killing the zombies, but to slow them with the ticks of damage. Its particulary usefull on places where the zombies need to make a long jump or walk while crouching, where the damage ticks become more noticeable. This materia used to make more damage, but many players were abusing it to kill winning humans in the final bunker when the engine turned them back to terrorist team. Its particle also got drastically reduced because it lagged many players and made it really hard to see zombies throught it, making them more of a help for the zombies than the humans it should. Earth Materia: Earth materia remains the same all the difficulties. When used it will create a wall of earth in front of the user that completly blocks the path and stays for around 6 seconds. This wall can be broken by human damage and will be destroyed easily if placed while they are shooting. Earth blocks humans aswel, so you must be careful when placing it so you don't left behind any teammate and to make sure the wall won't get destroyed before people can react to its aparition. (Note that this materia will automatically break while inside of the elevator to prevent blocking humans there on purpouse). Gravity Materia: Like Earth, this materia remains the same throught all the difficulties. It creates a black hole (even if sometimes is colored) that will suck all near zombies towards its center. Once caught inside it, it's arguably inescapable until it wears off, wich is around 6 seconds. This materia can be the most successful one at stopping zombies if used correctly, but at the same time it can be fatal for humans if used wrongly, since when used at close range it will still attract the zombies but they will be in range of infesting you. (Notice that Gravity will un-froze zombies frozen by Ice, since it gives a slow value). Ultima Materia: This is the most powerful materia in Mako Reactor and the only one that can only be used once. It remains the same throught all difficulties but doesn't spawn on Normal. It creates a big green area of light while charing; after charging for 20 seconds it will explode killing all zombies that are close enough to it. (Notice that Ultima won't kill zombies in Zombie Cage to prevent abuse on them when they are forced all together on that location). All materias with the exception of Wind can help you fight Bahamuth. Heal can help you survive longer, Ice will froze him and delay his final attack by 5 seconds, Ultima will do massive damage (around 1.700 hits) and the rest will do around 150 damage to him when used. LOTR Mines of Moria Mines of Moria is the first zombie escape map with special items. The Gandalf's staff: the Gandalf's staff repel zombies and he have ?? seconds cooldown. The Saruman's staff: the Saruman's staff make blues sparks which hurts zombies and he have ?? seconds cooldown. The Ring: the Ring hasn't a power but in the Mines of Moria, it break the wooden plank at the end. LOTR Mount Doom Mount Doom is the first zombie escape map with a zombie item. The Earendil Light: the Earendil light repel zombies during approximately 20 seconds and he have a ?? seconds cooldown. The Ring: the Ring hasn't a power Predator Ultimate The Minigun The Grenade Launcher The Flamethrower The Claymore Mines The Alien Devise ... Category:Special Items